Westwego council to meet again about new city hall

The Westwego City Council plans to hold another special meeting on the plans for a new City Hall building, this time to allow one of the council members to express concerns about potential cost overruns.

Councilman Glenn Green would not provide any further details Tuesday about the reason for meeting, which is slated for 7 p.m. Wednesday, but he said multiple revisions to the long-awaited building’s design have led him to worry that costs could start ballooning once construction begins.

The $3.3 million project has hit one delay after another. First, local officials had to hash out funding with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In early 2013, council members debated whether to include a drive-up window in the building, which would have required closing a nearby road. Then in May, the construction bids came in about $500,000 over budget, requiring a new, scaled-back design.

The new building, which will be located on Fourth Street, is expected to take 12 months to build once construction starts.

The council also will use Wednesday’s meeting to take up a few other matters, including a discussion about trains on the New Orleans Gulf Coast Railway tracks marshaling cars in areas where they’re not supposed to do that.

Green said they are supposed to unhitch and connect cars behind the Celotex property but instead are doing it near homes, and residents have been complaining about the noise.